Carter Dickson a.k.a. John Dickson Carr, certainly knew how to make an intriguing sounding title. Since this is not a fantasy novel, we know there will be no literal unicorns in this tale, so what will the unicorn be? A precious treasure of some kind? Unicorns are mentioned early in the story when Evelyn quotes from the nursery rhyme ‘The Lion and the Unicorn’ when trying to test Ken Blake to ascertain if he is her secret service contact. Now for whatever reason this part of British culture has just never properly lodged in my memory. If anyone is in a similar boat, the poem is rooted in the fighting between, and the eventual unification of, Scotland and England. The lion is part of the royal coat of arms for England, as is the unicorn for Scotland.
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